Puzzle 55: Seek and Spell 1
Texas is a huge state containing many cities, twelve of which are in this puzzle. (Seriously. Texas is huge. I live there, and I can authoritatively tell you that it's really huge.)
Rules -- Seek and Spell
Seek and Spell was invented by the Japanese puzzle company Nikoli (under the name Kanaore). To my knowledge, I am the only person who makes this kind of puzzle in a language other than Japanese.
1. Write a single one of the 26 letters of the English alphabet in each cell of the grid.
2. It must be possible to spell each of the words listed below the grid (excluding spaces, punctuation, and any other symbols besides the 26 letters of the English alphabet) by starting in the numbered cell corresponding to the number shown alongside that word, moving one cell in the direction indicated by the arrow, and then continuing to move one cell at a time up, down, left, or right to complete the word.
3. No cell may be used more than once in a single word, although you may use the same cell in multiple words.
1. Write a single one of the 26 letters of the English alphabet in each cell of the grid.2. It must be possible to spell each of the words listed below the grid (excluding spaces, punctuation, and any other symbols besides the 26 letters of the English alphabet) by starting in the numbered cell corresponding to the number shown alongside that word, moving one cell in the direction indicated by the arrow, and then continuing to move one cell at a time up, down, left, or right to complete the word.
3. No cell may be used more than once in a single word, although you may use the same cell in multiple words.
Puzzle 53: Streaming Content 6
"In Psalm 46 in the King James Version of the Bible, the 46th word from the beginning is 'shake' and the 46th word from the end is 'spear'; at the time of publication of the King James Bible, playwright William Shakespeare was 46 years old." Learn this and other facts about the number 46, fascinating and boring alike, here.
Puzzle 49: Eliza Pseudonym of Puzzlania 4
I'm a sucker for animals; I guess I inherited it from my mother. I mostly love dogs, though. I can't imagine being as happy in life as I am now without having at least one cute little dog around. :3
During a six-day period from Monday through Saturday, the animal-loving Eliza Pseudonym and her equally animal-loving friends Anna, Barbra, Carla, Delilah, and Fiona each bought a new pet. Each one got a different kind of pet, and each pet was given a different name and bought on a different day. From the clues below, determine the name and species of each woman's pet, and the day they got them.
1. No woman has the same initial as her pet.
2. On Monday, Fiona was already showing off her beautiful new parrot.
3. Barbra's pet was bought precisely three days before Connor was.
4. "Awwww, Alice is such a cute cat!" doted the dog owner (who didn't get her pet on Tuesday) upon seeing another woman's pet.
5. "I got a pet ferret today," one woman told Anna. "Wow, that's neat!" Anna replied. "I myself got a pet yesterday."
6. To the awe of the other women, one fearless woman brought home a pet snake on Friday.
7. Delilah's pet and Florence (who isn't the pet rat) were not bought on consecutive days.
8. Earl was bought sometime before Denise was.
9. Carla's pet was bought precisely four days after Barry was.
During a six-day period from Monday through Saturday, the animal-loving Eliza Pseudonym and her equally animal-loving friends Anna, Barbra, Carla, Delilah, and Fiona each bought a new pet. Each one got a different kind of pet, and each pet was given a different name and bought on a different day. From the clues below, determine the name and species of each woman's pet, and the day they got them.
1. No woman has the same initial as her pet.
2. On Monday, Fiona was already showing off her beautiful new parrot.
3. Barbra's pet was bought precisely three days before Connor was.
4. "Awwww, Alice is such a cute cat!" doted the dog owner (who didn't get her pet on Tuesday) upon seeing another woman's pet.
5. "I got a pet ferret today," one woman told Anna. "Wow, that's neat!" Anna replied. "I myself got a pet yesterday."
6. To the awe of the other women, one fearless woman brought home a pet snake on Friday.
7. Delilah's pet and Florence (who isn't the pet rat) were not bought on consecutive days.
8. Earl was bought sometime before Denise was.
9. Carla's pet was bought precisely four days after Barry was.
Puzzle 48: Totally Awesum 5
The difficulty of this specimen is rather extreme compared to the previous postings, methinks -- not that it's a bad thing, of course! :)
Puzzle 47: Totally Awesum 4
This puzzle ended up a little bit harder than intended, but it's still roughly of a medium difficulty for its size, and I think the grid looks very pretty.
Puzzle 44: Totally Awesum 1
This puzzle is, to put it bluntly, stupidly easy. However, I myself like the occasional stupidly easy puzzle. (Don't worry; I can, and have, made harder ones. :D )
Rules -- Totally Awesum
This puzzle, also known as Kakuro, is often thought of as a Japanese puzzle craze; however, the puzzle was actually invented by Dell Magazines (under the name Cross Sums), an American company, and was adopted by the Japanese puzzle company Nikoli later.
Special thanks to Lomont's Cross Sums for streamlining the process of test-solving and making PNG's for these puzzles.
1. Place a digit from 1 through 9 inclusive in each white cell of the grid.
2. A horizontal or vertical group of consecutive white cells, bounded on both sides by black cells or the edge of the grid, is called an entry. A number in a black cell above a diagonal line represents the sum of the digits in the horizontal entry to its right. A number in a black cell below a diagonal line represents the sum of the digits in the vertical entry below it.
3. No digit may be repeated within an entry.
Special thanks to Lomont's Cross Sums for streamlining the process of test-solving and making PNG's for these puzzles.
1. Place a digit from 1 through 9 inclusive in each white cell of the grid.
2. A horizontal or vertical group of consecutive white cells, bounded on both sides by black cells or the edge of the grid, is called an entry. A number in a black cell above a diagonal line represents the sum of the digits in the horizontal entry to its right. A number in a black cell below a diagonal line represents the sum of the digits in the vertical entry below it.
3. No digit may be repeated within an entry.
Puzzle 42: Eliza Pseudonym of Puzzlania 3
This puzzle was heavily inspired by Everett Kaser Software's game Dinner With Moriarty. Some of the clues are similar to clues that would be used in that game; however, I tried to be a little novel with the clues, as well.
Eliza Pseudonym and five of her friends met at her house to play the classic Perkless Brothers game Monotony together. Each of the six players brought a different food or drink item which was placed on the bar for the players to eat at any time during the game. As they played Monotony, they were eliminated from the game one by one until only the single winner remained. The six players were seated around a table as shown in the diagram below. From the clues below, determine where the players were seated, what food or drink item each of them brought, and how they placed in the game (from the worst, sixth place, through the best, first place). (Note: seats 1 and 4, 2 and 6, and 3 and 5 are across from each other. Consecutively numbered seats are next to each other, as are seats 1 and 6. No other pairs of seats are next to or across from each other.)
1. Delilah sat in seat 3 in the above diagram.
2. The player sitting across the table from the person who brought soda finished in sixth place, the player sitting in seat 4 finished in fifth place, and the player who brought an assortment of fruit juices finished in fourth place.
3. The person who brought popcorn was seated closer to the bar than the one who finished in second place.
4. Carla sat next to the person who brought a vegetable plate.
5. Fiona placed better than both of the players next to whom she was seated.
6. The player who brought fruit juices sat next to Anna and Barbra.
7. Barbra did not bring cookies, nor did she sit next to the person who brought cookies, or place in a consecutive position with the person who brought cookies.
8. The player in seat 6 brought potato chips.
9. The person who brought soda was seated closer to the bar than the one who brought popcorn.
Puzzle 41: Fencing Match 6
Another puzzle I made in Dallas. (Who knew that they sold graph paper at The Container Store? XD)
Puzzle 40: Streaming Content 5
I made this visually appealing specimen in Dallas. (By the way, the traffic in Dallas is an absolute NIGHTMARE! x_x; )
Puzzle 39: Eliza Pseudonym of Puzzlania 2
My mother used to be quite an avid quilter, and was even a member of a quilt guild for a period of time. She hopes to get back into quilting again, and frankly, so do I -- when I was about 10 or so, I designed a "math quilt" that had four blocks for each of the plus, minus, times, and divided by signs, arranged such that one of each block was in each row and in each column of a four by four square. We got it started, but still haven't finished it. We still have all the fabric for it in an old Pizza Hut box we got (minus the pizza) solely for the purpose of holding fabric. XDD Now that I've bored you with my life story, on to the puzzle.
In recent months, Eliza Pseudonym has taken an interest in quilting. Hoping to meet other quilters and obtain helpful advice, Eliza joined the Puzzlania Quilt Guild, where she was surprised to meet both male and female quilters! After becoming fast friends with Lou and seven other quilters, the nine of them decided to create their own special quilt together. Each quilter sewed a single quilt block, and then the nine blocks were sewn together in a square that was three blocks high and three blocks wide. Eliza and her fellow quilters were mighty proud of their collaborative effort! From the clues below, determine the gender of each quilter, which block they contributed to the quilt, and how the nine blocks are arranged. (Note: Except for Eliza, all of the names in this puzzle can be male or female.)
1. Every row and every column in the quilt contains one block that was sewn by a male quilter and two blocks that were sewn by female quilters.
2. Eliza sewed a block containing a Sudoku puzzle; her block is the leftmost block in the middle row of the quilt.
3. One quilter created a block with all of the quilters' initials in a 3x3 arrangement corresponding to who sewed the block in that position of the quilt; Casey, who is of the opposite gender of this quilter, said, "Wow, that's a really clever idea!"
4. Jordan's block is directly above the block containing the twelve distinct pentominoes, which is directly to the left of the block with the first 100 digits of pi.
5. The row containing Pat's quilt block is somewhere above the row containing the block with a maze in its design.
6. Vic's block is somewhere below and in the same column as Sam's block, which is somewhere to the left of and in the same row as the block depicting a dissection of a square into non-congruent isosceles triangles.
7. Alex's block and Casey's block share an edge on the quilt; one of these blocks contains a chess puzzle (its quilter has been playing chess since she was 5).
8. The block whose design contains a tangram puzzle is directly below the block contributed by Chris, which is directly to the left of the block containing the Lo Shu magic square.
In recent months, Eliza Pseudonym has taken an interest in quilting. Hoping to meet other quilters and obtain helpful advice, Eliza joined the Puzzlania Quilt Guild, where she was surprised to meet both male and female quilters! After becoming fast friends with Lou and seven other quilters, the nine of them decided to create their own special quilt together. Each quilter sewed a single quilt block, and then the nine blocks were sewn together in a square that was three blocks high and three blocks wide. Eliza and her fellow quilters were mighty proud of their collaborative effort! From the clues below, determine the gender of each quilter, which block they contributed to the quilt, and how the nine blocks are arranged. (Note: Except for Eliza, all of the names in this puzzle can be male or female.)
1. Every row and every column in the quilt contains one block that was sewn by a male quilter and two blocks that were sewn by female quilters.
2. Eliza sewed a block containing a Sudoku puzzle; her block is the leftmost block in the middle row of the quilt.
3. One quilter created a block with all of the quilters' initials in a 3x3 arrangement corresponding to who sewed the block in that position of the quilt; Casey, who is of the opposite gender of this quilter, said, "Wow, that's a really clever idea!"
4. Jordan's block is directly above the block containing the twelve distinct pentominoes, which is directly to the left of the block with the first 100 digits of pi.
5. The row containing Pat's quilt block is somewhere above the row containing the block with a maze in its design.
6. Vic's block is somewhere below and in the same column as Sam's block, which is somewhere to the left of and in the same row as the block depicting a dissection of a square into non-congruent isosceles triangles.
7. Alex's block and Casey's block share an edge on the quilt; one of these blocks contains a chess puzzle (its quilter has been playing chess since she was 5).
8. The block whose design contains a tangram puzzle is directly below the block contributed by Chris, which is directly to the left of the block containing the Lo Shu magic square.
Puzzle 38: Polyominous 5
Along the lines of Puzzle 37, here's a Polyominous designed to help beginners learn the ropes, but hopefully without alienating experts too much. (I promise I'll make more hard puzzles, too! :D )
Puzzle 37: Fencing Match 5
A friend of mine viewing this blog wanted an easy Fencing Match puzzle to practice on, so I threw this together in about 10 minutes. I believe this puzzle is sufficiently simple to train beginners, yet sufficiently interesting to amuse experienced solvers for the approximately 50 seconds it will take them to solve it. :)
Puzzle 35: Polyominous 4
At 20x36, this Polyominous is of the largest size I've ever made. (It's not of the largest size Nikoli publishes, though; every volume of Puzzle the Giants contains four 23x37 Fillomino puzzles, and volume 21 even includes a most impressive 64x50 behemoth at the back of the book -- it's so huge, that you have to unfold the page in order to solve it!)
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